United States Secretary of the Navy
Secretary of the Navy | |
---|---|
SECNAV | |
since May 19, 2009 | |
Department of the Navy | |
Style | Mister Secretary The Honorable (formal address in writing) |
Reports to | Secretary of Defense Deputy Secretary of Defense |
Appointer | The President with Senate advice and consent |
Term length | No fixed term as known. |
Inaugural holder | Benjamin Stoddert |
Formation | June 18, 1798 |
Succession | 3rd in SecDef succession |
Deputy | The Under Secretary (Principal Civilian Deputy) Chief of Naval Operations (Navy Advisor and Deputy) The Commandant (Marine Corps Advisor and Deputy) |
Salary | Executive Schedule, level II |
Website | Official Website |
The Secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory office (10 U.S.C. § 5013) and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the Department of Defense of the United States of America.
The Secretary of the Navy must by law be a civilian, at least 5 years removed from active military service, and is appointed by the President and requires confirmation by a majority vote of the Senate.
The Secretary of the Navy was, from its creation in 1798, a member of the President's Cabinet until 1949, when the Secretary of the Navy (and the Secretaries of the Army and Air Force) was by amendments to the National Security Act of 1947 made subordinate to the Secretary of Defense.[1]
Responsibilities
The Department of the Navy (DoN) consists of two Uniformed Services: the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps.[2] The Secretary of the Navy is responsible for, and has statutory authority (10 U.S.C. § 5013) to "conduct all the affairs of the Department of the Navy", i.e. as its chief executive officer, subject to the limits of the law, and the directions of the President and the Secretary of Defense. In effect, all authority within the Navy and Marine Corps, unless specifically exempted by law, is derivative of the authority vested in the Secretary of the Navy.
Specifically enumerated responsibilities of the SECNAV in beforementioned section are: recruiting, organizing, supplying, equipping, training, mobilizing, and demobilizing. The Secretary also oversees the construction, outfitting, and repair of naval ships, equipment and facilities. SECNAV is responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies and programs that are consistent with the national security policies and objectives established by the President or the Secretary of Defense.[3][4]
The Secretary of the Navy is a member of the Defense Acquisition Board (DAB), chaired by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. Furthermore, the Secretary has several statutory responsibilities under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) with respect to the administration of the military justice system for the Navy & the Marine Corps, including the authority to convene general courts-martial and to commute sentences.
The principal military advisers to the SECNAV are the two service chiefs of the naval services: for matters regarding the Navy the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), and for matters regarding the Marine Corps the Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC). The CNO and the Commandant act as the principal executive agents of the SECNAV within their respective services to implement the orders of the Secretary.
Navy Regulations
The United States Navy Regulations is the principal regulatory document of the Department of the Navy, and any changes to it can only be approved by the Secretary of the Navy.
U.S. Coast Guard
Whenever the United States Coast Guard operates as a service within the Department of the Navy, the Secretary of the Navy has the same powers and duties with respect to the Coast Guard as the Secretary of Homeland Security when the Coast Guard is not operating as a service in the Navy.[5]
The Navy Secretariat
The Office of the Secretary of the Navy, also known within DoD as the Navy Secretariat or simply just as the Secretariat in a DoN setting, is the immediate headquarters staff that supports the Secretary in discharging his duties. The principal officials of the Secretariat include the Under Secretary of the Navy (the Secretary's principal civilian deputy), the Assistant Secretaries of the Navy (ASN), the General Counsel of the Department of the Navy, the Judge Advocate General of the Navy (JAG), the Naval Inspector General (NIG), the Chief of Legislative Affairs, and the Chief of Naval Research. The Office of the Secretary of the Navy has sole responsibility within the Department of the Navy for acquisition, auditing, financial and information management, legislative affairs, public affairs, research, and development.[6]
The Chief of Naval Operations and the Commandant of the Marine Corps have their own separate staffs, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (also known by its acronym OPNAV) and Headquarters Marine Corps.
Continental Congress
Position | Picture | Name | Term of Office |
---|---|---|---|
Chairman of the Marine Committee | John Adams | October 13, 1775 – 1779 | |
Member of the Marine Committee | John Langdon | October 13, 1775–? | |
Member of the Marine Committee | Silas Deane | October 13, 1775–? | |
Member of the Marine Committee | Joseph Hewes | 1775 [9] | |
Continental Navy Board (under Marine Committee) |
November 6, 1776–28 October 28, 1779 | ||
Chairman of the Continental Board of Admiralty | Francis Lewis | December 1779 – 1780 | |
Secretary of Marine | Alexander McDougall | February 7, 1781 – August 29, 1781 | |
Agent of Marine (devolved onto Superintendent of Finance) |
Robert Morris | August 29, 1781 – 1784 [10] |
(Post of Secretary of Marine created but remained vacant)
Executive Department 1798–1947
No. | Picture | Name | State | Term of Office | Served under |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Benjamin Stoddert | Maryland | June 18, 1798 – March 31, 1801 | John Adams | |
2 | Robert Smith | Maryland | July 27, 1801 – March 4, 1809 | Thomas Jefferson | |
3 | Paul Hamilton | South Carolina | May 15, 1809 – December 31, 1812 | James Madison | |
4 | William Jones | Pennsylvania | January 19, 1813 – December 1, 1814 | ||
5 | Benjamin W. Crowninshield | Massachusetts | January 16, 1815 – September 30, 1818 | ||
James Monroe | |||||
6 | Smith Thompson | New York | January 1, 1819 – August 31, 1823 | ||
7 | Samuel L. Southard | New Jersey | September 16, 1823 – March 4, 1829 | ||
John Quincy Adams | |||||
8 | John Branch | North Carolina | March 9, 1829 – May 12, 1831 | Andrew Jackson | |
9 | Levi Woodbury | New Hampshire | May 23, 1831 – June 30, 1834 | ||
10 | Mahlon Dickerson | New Jersey | July 1, 1834 – June 30, 1838 | ||
Martin Van Buren | |||||
11 | James K. Paulding | New York | July 1, 1838 – March 4, 1841 | ||
12 | George E. Badger | North Carolina | March 6, 1841 – September 11, 1841 | William Henry Harrison | |
John Tyler | |||||
13 | Abel P. Upshur | Virginia | October 11, 1841 – July 23, 1843 | ||
14 | David Henshaw | Massachusetts | July 24, 1843 – February 18, 1844 | ||
15 | Thomas W. Gilmer | Virginia | February 19, 1844 – February 28, 1844 | ||
16 | John Y. Mason | Virginia | March 26, 1844 – March 4, 1845 | ||
17 | George Bancroft | Massachusetts | March 11, 1845 – September 9, 1846 | James Knox Polk | |
18 | John Y. Mason | Virginia | September 10, 1846 – March 4, 1849 | ||
19 | William B. Preston | Virginia | March 8, 1849 – July 22, 1850 | Zachary Taylor | |
20 | William A. Graham | North Carolina | August 2, 1850 – July 25, 1852 | Millard Fillmore | |
21 | John P. Kennedy | Maryland | July 26, 1852 – March 4, 1853 | ||
22 | James C. Dobbin | North Carolina | March 8, 1853 – March 4, 1857 | Franklin Pierce | |
23 | Isaac Toucey | Connecticut | March 7, 1857 – March 4, 1861 | James Buchanan | |
24 | Gideon Welles | Connecticut | March 7, 1861 – March 4, 1869 | Abraham Lincoln | |
Andrew Johnson | |||||
25 | Adolph E. Borie | Pennsylvania | March 9, 1869 – June 25, 1869 | Ulysses S. Grant | |
26 | George M. Robeson | New Jersey | June 26, 1869 – March 4, 1877 | ||
(acting) | William Faxon | March 4, 1877 – March 13, 1877 | Rutherford B. Hayes | ||
27 | Richard W. Thompson | Indiana | March 13, 1877 – December 20, 1880 | ||
28 | Nathan Goff, Jr. | West Virginia | January 7, 1881 – March 4, 1881 | ||
29 | William H. Hunt | Louisiana | March 7, 1881 – April 16, 1882 | James Garfield | |
Chester A. Arthur | |||||
30 | William E. Chandler | New Hampshire | April 16, 1882 – March 4, 1885 | ||
31 | William C. Whitney | New York | March 7, 1885 – March 4, 1889 | Grover Cleveland | |
32 | Benjamin F. Tracy | New York | March 6, 1889 – March 4, 1893 | Benjamin Harrison | |
33 | Hilary A. Herbert | Alabama | March 7, 1893 – March 4, 1897 | Grover Cleveland | |
34 | John D. Long | Massachusetts | March 6, 1897 – April 30, 1902 | William McKinley | |
Theodore Roosevelt | |||||
35 | William H. Moody | Massachusetts | May 1, 1902 – June 30, 1904 | ||
36 | Paul Morton | Illinois | July 1, 1904 – June 30, 1905 | ||
37 | Charles J. Bonaparte | Maryland | July 1, 1905 – December 16, 1906 | ||
38 | Victor H. Metcalf | California | December 17, 1906 – November 30, 1908 | ||
39 | Truman H. Newberry | Michigan | December 1, 1908 – March 4, 1909 | ||
40 | George von L. Meyer | Massachusetts | March 6, 1909 – March 4, 1913 | William Howard Taft | |
41 | Josephus Daniels | North Carolina | March 5, 1913 – March 4, 1921 | Woodrow Wilson | |
42 | Edwin C. Denby | Michigan | March 6, 1921 – March 10, 1924 | Warren G. Harding | |
Calvin Coolidge | |||||
(acting) | Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. | New York | March 10, 1924 – March 19, 1924 | ||
43 | Curtis D. Wilbur | California | March 19, 1924 – March 4, 1929 | ||
44 | Charles F. Adams III | Massachusetts | March 5, 1929 – March 4, 1933 | Herbert Hoover | |
45 | Claude A. Swanson | Virginia | March 4, 1933 – July 7, 1939 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | |
46 | Charles Edison | New Jersey | July 7, 1939 – January 2, 1940 | ||
January 2, 1940 – June 24, 1940 | |||||
(acting) | Lewis Compton | June 24, 1940 – July 11, 1940 | |||
47 | Frank Knox | Illinois | July 11, 1940 – April 28, 1944 | ||
(acting) | Ralph A. Bard | April 28, 1944 – May 19, 1944 | |||
48 | James V. Forrestal | New York | May 19, 1944 – September 17, 1947 | ||
Harry S. Truman |
Military Department (Department of Defense) 1947–
See also
- Military awards of the United States Department of the Navy
- Secretary of the Navy Council of Review Boards
- Stephen Mallory, the only Secretary of the Navy of the Confederate States of America
References
- ^ "Guide to Federal Records – General Records of the Department of the Navy, 1798–1947". Retrieved September 23, 2007.
- ^ "The US Navy". Retrieved September 23, 2007.
- ^ "US CODE: Title 10,5013. Secretary of the Navy". Retrieved September 23, 2007.
- ^ "U.S. Navy Biographies – The Honorable Donald C. Winter". Retrieved September 23, 2007.
- ^ "US CODE: Title 10,5013a. Secretary of the Navy: powers with respect to Coast Guard". Retrieved September 23, 2007.
- ^ "US CODE: Title 10,5014. Office of the Secretary of the Navy". Retrieved September 23, 2007.
- ^ "Department of the Navy, Office of the General Counsel (DON-OGC) – OGC History". Archived from the original on July 24, 2007. Retrieved September 23, 2007.
- ^ Cahoon, Ben (2000). "United States Government". World Statesmen. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
- ^ Joseph Hewes. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval Historical and Heritage Command.
- ^ Benson J. Lossing. Household History for All Readers. 1877. Republished in Our Country vol. 2
- ^ a b c d Staff reporter (2005-12-29). "Acting Deputy Defense Secretary Relinquishes Top Navy Post". American Forces Press Service. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
Navy Undersecretary Dionel M. Aviles will serve as acting Navy secretary effective today. Donald Winter, who was confirmed by the Senate last month, will be sworn in as the 74th secretary of the Navy on Jan. 3.
- ^ a b c "Navy Secretary Departs Office" (Press release). United States Department of Defense. 2009-03-13. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
The 74th Secretary of the Navy, Donald C. Winter, resigned his office today as planned. Winter had agreed to remain in office until March 13, 2009, to ease the transition of the Department of Defense. [...] BJ Penn will be the acting Secretary of the Navy until the Senate confirms a nominee chosen by President Barack Obama.
- ^ Staff reporter (2005-05-19). "Mabus Sworn in as New Navy Secretary". NNS. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
Ray Mabus, former Mississippi governor and U.S. ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was sworn in May 19 as the 75th secretary of the Navy.
(Archived by WebCite at WebCite)